Garment hanger



Dec. 18, 1962 M. TREIMAN GARMENT HANGER Filed June 20, 1960 INVENTOR. Maze/5 [WM/4w United States Patent M 3,069,054 GARMENT HANGER Morris Treiman, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to All ed Plastics Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Filed June 20, 1960, Ser. No. 37,309 1 Claim. (Cl. 223-92) This invention relates generally to garment hangers and, more particularly, to an improvement in the garment hanger disclosed in my prior US. Patent No. 2,460,438 issued February 1, 1949.

As discussed in my prior patent, the prime deficiency of the early swiveled hook, plastic garment hanger-s was the way in which the body of the hanger was formed with a hole to receive the shank of the hook. Thus, it was necessary either to mold the body of the hanger without a hole and then drill a hole, which was an expensive and time consuming operation, or else to use complicated and expensive dies having retractable cores.

The invention of the prior patent overcame these difiiculties by providing a plastic garment hanger having a body with a vertically disposed series of slots extending into the body alternately from opposite sides thereof. Each of these slots had an inner portion overlapping the inner portions of the adjacent slots in such a way that the overlapping inner portions of the several slots defined the cross section of a vertical hole extending into the body from its top edge to receive the shank of the hanger hook. A washer, fixed on the shank of the hook and positioned within an opening in the body, above a pair of cars staked out from the shank, was engageable with the upper edge of the opening to restrain the shank against pulling out of the hanger body.

A general object of this invention is to provide a swiveled hook, plastic garment hanger of the general character described in my prior patent but which eliminates the washer of my earlier hanger and is even simpler and cheaper to manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a swiveled hook, plastic garment hanger of the character described which is relatively inexpensive and simple to manufacture and attractive in appearance as well as rugged in construction.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

This invention may be better understood from the following detailed description thereof, taken in connection with the annexed drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of the present garment hanger;

FIG. 2 is an enlargement of the central portion of the hanger in FIG. 1;

*FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken along line 4-4 of 'FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section taken along line 6--'6 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged section taken along line 77 of FIG. 3.

The garment hanger 10 illustrated in these drawings comprises a molded plastic body 12 which may have any desired hanger configuration. This body has a generally channel-shaped section and includes a thin, vertical web 14 and rounded beads or flanges 16 along the upper and lower edges of the web.

'Formed on one side of the body web 14, adjacent the upper and lower flanges '16, are a pair of generally semi-cylindrical enlargements 18 and 20 having a common vertical axis in the plane of the web. Formed on the 3,069,054 Patented Dec. 18, 1962 2 other side of the body web 14, midway between the enlargements 18 and 20, is a third generally semicylindrical enlargement 22 which is coaxial with the enlargements 18 and 20. The ends of the inter-mediate enlargement 22 are vertically spaced from the adjacent ends of the upper and lower enlargements 18 and 20, as shown.

Extending into the body of the hanger, from alternately opposite sides thereof, are a series of vertically aligned slots 24, 26, 28 and 30. Slot 24 extends into the upper flange 16 of the body from its left-hand side, as viewed in FIG. 3. Slots 26 and 30 extend into the upper and lower enlargements 18 and 20 from the right-hand side of the hanger body, as the latter is viewed in FIG. 3. The remaining slot 28 extends into the intermediate enlargement 22 from the left-hand side of the body. 'Between the upper enlargement 18 and the intermediate enlargement 22 is an upper rectangular opening 32 in the web 14 of the body and between the intermediate enlargement 22 and the lower enlargement 20 is a lower rectangular opening 34 in the web.

The inner ends of the adjacent slots 24 through 30 overlap and have cylindrically curved end walls 36 cen tered on the common axis of the semicylindric enlargements 18, 20 and 22. The overlapping, inner ends of the slots 24 through 30, when viewed in the direction of this axis from the upper edge of the hanger body, define, in eifect, a circular hole 38 which is closed at its lower end and opens through the upper edge of the body.

The hook 40 of the hanger is made of heavy gauge wire and is formed with a lower, straight shank portion 42 and an upper hook portion 44. The shank portion 42 of the hook is inserted through the hole 38 in the hanger body until the lower end of the shank is positioned within the lower slot 30 in the hanger body. The shank has a sliding fit in the hole 38 so as to permit relative rotation of the hook and hanger body.

In order to restrain the shank 42 of the hook against pulling out of the hole 38 in the hanger body a pair of diametrically opposite cars 46 are staked out from the shank within the body opening 32 and an additional pair of diametrically opposite cars 48 are staked out from the shank within the body opening 34. The transverse dimension of each pair of these cars is greater than the diameter of the hole 38 in the hanger body so that they restrain the shank of the hook against upward axial movement out of the hole.

It will be observed in FIG. 3 that when the hook is rotated to a position wherein the plane of the ears 46 and 48 on the shank 42 of the hook is located in a plane normal to the plane of the hanger body, the rounded edge of one of the upper ears 46 engages the edge of the slot in the upper semicylindrical enlargement 18 on the hanger body upon the application of an upward force to the hook 40. This tends to cam the engaged ear to the right and over the edge. It has been found by experiment that in the absence of the lower ears 48 on the shank of the hook, this camming action would allow the upper ears 46 to be forced into the slot 26 in the upper enlargement 18 of the hanger body with the result that the hook became partially withdrawn from the hanger body and locked against rotation with respect to the hanger body. The same thing would happen, of course, if only the lower ears 48 were formed on the shank of the hook since there then would be a tendency for that lower car 48 which engages the hanger body to be cammed to the left and over the edge of the slot 28 in the intermediate enlargement 22 on the hanger body.

This difficulty is avoided by providing the shank of the hook with the two pairs of ears 46 and 48. Thus, it will be observed in FIG. 3 that the camming action on the upper engaged ear 46 tends to deflect the shank of the hook to the right, whereas the camming action on the lower engaged ear 48 tends to cam the shank to the left. As a result, neither engaged ear on the shank can be cammed up and over the edge of its adjacent slot so that the shank of the hook is firmly restrained against upward axial movement out of the hole 38 on the hanger body.

The exterme simplicity and economy of manufacture of the present garment hanger is obvious. Thus, the slots 24 through 30 can be molded directly in the hanger body by integral projections on the male and female dies. No costly retractable cores are required during the molding operation and no costly and time consuming drilling operations are necessary after the molding operation to produce the hole 38 in the hanger body. After the body of the hanger is molded, the shank 42 of the hook is simply inserted into the hole 38 in the body and the assembly is then staked to form the ears 46 and 48. The present hanger is, therefore, obviously uniquely adapted to manufacture in an automated production line.

Clearly, therefore, the garment hanger hereinbefore described and illustrated is fully capable of attaining the several objects and advantages preliminarily set forth.

What is claimed is:

A garment hanger comprising a body, a vertically disposed series of slots extending into said body alternately from opposite sides thereof, each of said slots having an inner portion overlapping the inner portion of the next adjacent slot, all in such manner that said overlapping inner portions cooperate to define the cross section of a vertical hole extending down into said body from the top edge thereof and opening alternately on opposite sides, a hook having a shank extending down into said hole, said body having vertically spaced openings at opposite ends of one of said slots extending through the body from one side to the other and intersecing said hole, the portion of the shank within each opening having diametrically opposite ears with an overall dimension transversely of said shank which is greater than the diameter of said hole, whereby said ears are engageable with the body adjacent to the lower end of the slot immediately above to restrain the shank against upward axial movement out of said hole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,460,438 Treiman a Feb. 1, .1949 2,557,627 Baril June 19, 1951 2,895,657 Laughton July 21, 1959 2,914,227 Fay Nov. 24, 1959 

